1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable terminal that includes a built-in antenna for performing a mobile communication function while avoiding interference from a speaker and for facilitating miniaturization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various forms of portable terminals having special functions, such as electronic organizers specialized for schedule management functions, Portable Multimedia Players (PMPs) specialized for game or multimedia play functions, etc., have been become popular. In general, the term “portable terminal” refers to an electronic apparatus that a user can carry to perform wireless communication with a desired partner.
Conventional portable terminals may be classified into various types according to their appearance, such as bar-type terminals, flip-type terminals, and folder-type terminals. The bar-type terminal has a single housing shaped like a bar. The flip-type terminal has a flip pivotably mounted to a bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit. The folder-type terminal has a folder coupled to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit in such a manner that the folder can be rotated to fold to or unfold from the housing.
Portable terminals may also be classified into neck wearable-type terminals and wrist wearable-type terminals according to the position or manner in which a user puts on the terminal. The neck wearable-type terminal is one that a user wears around the neck using a string, and the wrist wearable-type terminal is one that a user wears around the wrist.
Additionally, portable terminals may be classified into rotation-type terminals and sliding-type terminals according to the manner of opening and closing the terminal. In the rotation-type terminal, two housings are coupled to each other in such a manner that one housing rotates to open or close relative to the other, while facing each other. In the sliding-type terminal, two housings are coupled to each other in such a manner that one housing slides in the longitudinal direction to open or close relative to the other while facing each other. These variously classified conventional portable terminals are readily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.
With the popularization of portable terminals, commercial services using the portable terminals, e.g., multimedia functions such as games, moving picture reproduction, music file reproduction, etc., have been become popular, thereby allowing users to use the portable terminals for various applications and providing service providers with new opportunities to profit.
Such reinforcement of the multimedia functions of portable terminals having a mobile communication function, however, leads to many difficulties in miniaturization of the portable terminals, which hinders portability of the portable terminals. More specifically, larger display devices are required to provide screens having sufficient sizes, impeding miniaturization of the portable terminals. In an attempt to solve such a problem, the thickness of the portable terminal has been reduced.
Enrichment of sound and improvement of sound quality are essential to the portable terminals having advanced multimedia functions, which can be achieved by increasing the size of a speaker unit for outputting sound. Such size increase, however, may be a significant obstacle to miniaturization of the portable terminal. Moreover, as an antenna device of the portable terminal is mounted inside a housing of the portable terminal, it becomes more difficult to secure space used for arranging the speaker unit and the antenna device. In other words, electromagnetism generated by a voice coil of the speaker unit affects a radiation characteristic of the antenna device, resulting in difficulties in optimizing the performance of the antenna device while securing the space used for arranging the antenna device without being subject to interference from the speaker unit.